The killing of a 17-year-old during a police traffic stop has put the government on edge.
The violent unrest that has spread across France since a teenager was killed by police in a Paris suburb has raised the specter of riots that rocked French suburbs for weeks in 2005 — and Emmanuel Macron’s government is scrambling to stop that from happening again.
On Thursday morning, the French president called an emergency Cabinet meeting in the wake of overnight clashes in French cities after a 17-year-old was shot by police on Tuesday during a traffic stop in Nanterre, a western Paris suburb.
The government decided to cancel all “non-priority” trips by ministers, the government’s latest move to dial down tensions that are gripping the nation.
Macron’s own response to the images of a police officer shooting Nahel M.(his full name has not been given) was swift and unequivocal. While some questioned whether the police officer had felt threatened by the teenager, the president spoke of “the emotion of the nation” and said the killing was “inexplicable” and “inexcusable.”
Instructions have also been issued to police officers to avoid behavior that would stir up tensions in France’s impoverished banlieues, according to Paris Playbook. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said some 40,000 police officers were being deployed across France.
There’s uncomfortable familiarity between the latest unrest and events that rocked France almost 20 years ago.
In 2005, two young men — Zyad Benna and Bouna Traoré — died as they tried to flee a police checkpoint in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois. In the weeks of riots that followed, youths in the suburbs fought running battles with police and on some nights, dozens were arrested and hundreds of cars torched. Like Nahel M., Benna and Traoré were from immigrant backgrounds, and their deaths fomented a sense of injustice among many.
To bring the unrest to an end in 2005, the government was forced to declare a state of emergency.
“I’m worried that we’ll go through what I faced 18 years ago, in 2005,” said François Molins, a former prosecutor for northern Paris, where the riots began. “It’s taking off very quickly. And I hope we won’t face the same [situation] and everyone will regain their senses,” he said on TV channel France 2.
On Thursday, Macron again called for calm after 180 people were arrested overnight, public buildings were attacked, and a tram set alight in a Paris suburb.
Caught in the crossfire
For Macron, the timing of Nahel M.’s tragic death could not be worse. France is only just emerging from weeks of protests over reforms that raised the legal pension age to 64 from 62.
The president also had to deal with discontent at home over inflation and a volatile international landscape dominated by the war in Ukraine. On Thursday, he headed to Brussels for a meeting with fellow EU leaders.
Eyeing an opportunity to attack a president who is already weakened after losing his majority in parliamentary elections last year, the opposition appears to be cutting the government little slack.
While government ministers have been calling for calm, several far-left figures have been accused of stoking tensions. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon tweeted overnight that “the guard dogs are ordering us to call for calm. We are calling for justice.”
And then there’s the situation in the banlieues. In recent years, things have been relatively calm despite predictions that tensions would rise during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government says this is, in part, due to greater access to jobs under Macron and more investment in poorer suburbs.
But the ingredients for unrest remain — a hatred of the police, drug-related crime, and a sense that France’s meritocracy no longer functions.
In impoverished neighborhoods “Kids are fed up because they face police checks all the time, cops wake up every morning with fear in the pit of their stomachs. So when you strike a match, tensions flare up,” said French political analyst Chloé Morin.
“And it’s all the more complicated to appease the situation, because politicians are deeply mistrusted as well,” she added.
The French president knows how quickly unrest involving allegations of police brutality can escalate in France. During the Yellow Jackets protests of 2018 and 2019, violence spiraled as protesters unleashed their anger on the streets and security forces resorted to heavy-handed tactics.
In 2005, then-President Nicolas Sarkozy was accused of stoking trouble with comments that he wanted to “clean up” the banlieues.
Macron’s message is one of appeasement — but there’s no guarantee it will be heard.
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